Wow! I'm out of shape!!

Well, I have had some success with all the bike riding I've been doing. I've actually been able to ride longer distances for longer periods of time without dying!! Hey that's a big one for me. I was able to visit my Dad today in my travels and go to the bike shop to pick up some cleaner. Once again, I didn't die from exhaustion! I have a rather rotund ass! It's big. It takes a lot for me to get my ass up some hills. But I keep thinking "Baby steps, baby steps, I'm not in a race... I just want to get up this damned hill....Baby steps, God, I need to call Jenny Craig!" Usually I'm in the lowesest gear known to mankind and I'm generally wheezing too. It's really quite a sight to see. But you know, I can actually tell that I've gotten better here and there. But I'm still new to all of this cycling stuff. I even purchased a helmet with the Virgen de Guadelupe on it. I figure I can use all the help I can get. Especially when I'm climbing those large hills! I actually say a prayer before I leave my house asking God to keep me safe. I've even become intrigued with the mechanics of the bike. Tonight for example, I cleaned the cogs, the front and rear derailleur, and the chain. I'm rattling this off like I know what I'm doing. Ha! I've had my nose stuck in a bicyling mechanics book this whole week, highlighting information that I deemed was important. I was cussing a storm today getting my rear wheel back on. Plus there was a point in time when I thought I really botched things up. I thought I messed up the shifters on my bike. I think everything was okay. I mean I went for a test ride after I worked on my bike checking everything out and it seemed like it was working okay. I'm still going to take it to the shop and have it looked over. And I'm really thinking of attending a bicycle mechanics course- if I stay with commuting via bike to work and all. The only problem is the course is in Oregon. That's a bit of a commute for me. Plus I'm not sure if I would have to box up my bike and take it with me. Ugh! Well I'm going to sign off tonight.
~D

Ode to PBJ!!

www.infopackets.com/ gazette/20030211.htm- This is where I got this graphic from!

While going to school this summer, I constantly had to pack my lunch everyday. Sometimes, I was in a hurry, while other times I was on time. But whether I was running late or on time, I was always able to pack the best lunch of all! Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwhich! Yum Yum Yum! I gotta be honest, I had a lot of pbj sandwiches while growing up ; and then sometime in high school, pbj became out of style. Sacrelige I know, but true!! And then I went to college, and I always bought my lunch. And then I got a real job and my lunch was transformed into a box that you threw in the microwave. 5 minutes, voila! you have a high sodium packed lunch worth 4 pts., 5 pts, 6 pts, 7 pts, etc. Obviously, I got tired of all the points so this summer I returned to my childhood lunch pbj. I have forgotten how delightful and easy it is to prepare! Slap some peanut butter on a piece of bread, slap a bunch of jelly on another piece of bread, and you got yourself a sandwich. You don't have to refridgerate it. You can just throw it in a lunch bag or in one of those reusable plastic container thingys. God really knew what He was doing when He created the Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. Thank God for pbj!

Biking

I have this crazy ass dream. I want to be able to bike to work. My work is maybe ten minutes away by car and I generally take back roads. With soaring gas prices, a general concern for the environment, and well, an overall wellbeing for my fat ass, I think biking to work is well, a good idea. There's a couple of problems: 1) I am soooooo out of shape and 2) I live on wanna be rural roads and I just have this thing about dying... I'm not ready to go yet and I don't feel like being hit by a car and 3) I'm not all that experienced with riding a bike- shifting gears and all that stuff. Some of the things I do have going for me... 1) I have a pretty decent bike, it's a Schwinn, but it doesn't look like this picture, I just thought it was a cool pic., 2) I have a helmet, I will not go riding without out it, again, that whole death thing, scary, and 3) I'm stubborn as a jackass. So needless to say...
This morning, I went out for my first ride. Ugh! This dorquita is sooooo out of shape! I went on roads which were really hilly because I needed practice with switching gears. I only went out for maybe 30 min. That's about all my butt could take. I'm hoping over time, I will build up more of an endurance for when I'm biking. I really would like to get one of those orange triangles for my butt. I know, I know, they are for slow moving vehicles. Well, when I'm going up hill, I'm about as slow as you can get. Lol! I really would like to get one of those orange triangles though. I make sure my reflectors are good and in place. So time will only tell.

Toad licking pt. 2

After I just finished writing my whole blog about my dogs getting high, I need to let you know my dog just vomited all over my financial statements. Guess what I get to clean up now- at least it wasn't chunky.

Toad licking

Cats have catnip. What do dogs have? After pondering this for a bit, I realize dogs have toad licking. Yes folks, that's what I said, toad licking. Being in the country we have a lot of toads around here. At first, they really really scared me. I'd never really been around toads before, so this is all new. Well my dogs seemed to think toads were kinda new as well. I mean hey! they hop around and do not look like a dog. Well one of the way dogs explore things is through their mouths. Apparently, my dogs, especially my chihuahua has come to appreciate the taste of toads. In fact after licking a toad, Tony seems to stare into space and shake his head a lot. And yet in the middle of toad licking, Tony will not come to me. Even if I begin to speak to him in Spanish, he still ignores me and continues to lick the toad. He's shaking his head a lot and staring into space. I daresay my chihuahua is high. My other dogs seem to also have acquired a taste for toadlicking but they are just mellowed out. Dude! Maybe I should try toad licking. Naw! I don't think so. I can barely pick one of those things up let alone lick it. Gosh I hope when my Papi comes over on Sat with his dog, I hope she doesn't lick any toads. Gosh, 4 high dogs would really suck.
~D

Death Sucks for the Remaining Ones

I'm really bummed. I just found out one of my friends died. She was a really really cool person to talk to. Her name was Beth and she was my chiropractor's wife. I would always look forward to going to his office on Saturday because the dogs were there and Beth always made sure that I got to see the dogs. She died of Cistic Fibrosis. We all knew it was coming, but still nothing really prepares you when you get the phone call.

One of the things that I really loved about Beth was that she was so personable. You could just sit and talk to her about anything. If you wanted to complain about your husband, you could do it and she would completely understand. I'm a huge dog lover and so was Beth, so I always talked about my dogs with her. She was just a really really good person. I mean towards the end, I really didn't see much of her, because she was ill. But I knew that she was a fighter. She fought CF like no one I'd ever seen. She always had such high spirits about it. It wasn't uncommon to her with a special pack on or something. But she never really brought attention to it. And even though I was one of the Doc's patients, she made me feel like a friend. For example, there was a time when I was on this machine for my back, she would come in to make sure I was comfortable and then she would sit and chat with me for a while. Beth would just want to know how school was going or what my students were like or how my dogs were. She made me feel comfortable and accepted. All I can say was that she was a really cool person and I'm sad to see her go. I will definitely miss her. I know she's in a better place. I know that she can rest now and she doesn't have to fight anymore, but it's still hard knowing she's gone.

My Mom Is the Best!!!

Before I start out with this blog, I want to give props to the website which helped me design it: www.violablu.net. It's so funny, the older I get, the more music I like. Like for example, today I was driving home from my meeting with my prof with Kid Rock. Just a day or so I go, I was chillin to Debussy. Yesterday when driving to school, I was jammin to Papa Roach. I love all types of music. Music is a huge huge part of my life. I could literally discuss for hours all the genres I love. For example, I love Genitallica which is like a Mexican Good Charlotte, but in my opinion much much better. I absolutely adore Control Machete. But then I can listen to the Marshall Tucker Band, Foghat, Black Sabbath, Skynard, Bad Company, Johnny Cash, Rick Trevino, Keith Urban, the Beatles, and many many more. Now my diverse taste in music comes from my Mom!

Dude, my Mom is the best! When I was growing up, I wasn't one of those teenagers who thought their Mom was uncool. I always thought my Mom was the coolest! Although while reading this, she may disagree and remember some days when I didn't think she was too cool. I can remember when Mom would drive me to school in the morning. One thing Mom always told me was, "Dorquita, my pride and joy!! (Okay so she never said pride and joy!) Don't limit yourself to just one thing. Too many kids your age do that! Don't be like them." Not only did Mom wax words of wisdom, but she lead by example. In those mornings, there would be much conversation, but there was music too. Some mornings, we jammed out to Jimi Hendrix. While other mornings, we'd listen to the complexities of Mozart. And then on some mornings, Mom would jam to Linda Ronstadt. And when my Mom was really feeling rebellious she would jam out to Janis Joplin. Mom encouraged anything I listened to and even when growing up she at times censored stuff I listened to as well. The cool thing about my Mom was that she was down with the times. She knew the 411. She was fully aware that Madonna was not a virgin and sure as hell didn't act like one on stage. Tee hee.

All I can say is Thank you Mom for all the lessons you taught me in life! A kid couldn't ask for a better Mom. I know there were times it was tough (i.e. dealing with my OCD) but thanks for sticking with me through it. Thanks to all those mornings in high school. I think those stand out the most in my brain. Mom you totally rock and I love you!

Man's best friend???

I have a big fat dog named Simba. Simba loves to eat as you can tell by the size of his gut. I have a special way I feed the Simba. I make him wait until I have finished putting the kibble in front of him. When I was training him, instead of holding onto his collar, I would attach a lead to him and hold him that way. I have been bitten before when I've grabbed a dog's collar. So I know now never to grab a dog by the collar.

Well my husband on the other hand, doesn't share this same viewpoint. When feeding Simba, he tried telling the dog to wait and when Simba wouldn't wait, hubby immediately grabbed Simba's collar. You see where this story is going... Simba turned around on hubby, took hubby's hand in his mouth, and hubby was pissed. Why is it that whenever you tell a man what he did wrong, he doesn't want to hear it? I was there, I was watching, I knew what my man did wrong. I've done it myself in the past. There are some dogs that don't like it when you grab their collars. So instead of listening to my sage advice, he told me that I would be the only person to feed Simba. That doesn't solve anything. Yes, Simba is very very attached to me, but at the same time, I can't be the only one to take of Sim. So I think Simba and I are going to work on basic training skills with focusing on food. I mean hey, I am the primary caregiver when it comes to my dogs, but hey hubby shares the house with me and the dogs are his too.

So finally when my classes are done and when my paper is turned in, I know I will be working on training with Simba. I've had a personal dog trainer before, so I know what to do. The only thing is I wonder if my husband will take part in equally. Who knows... time will only tell. By the way... isn't a dog supposed to be man's best friend?

Another day, another hollar!!!

Can I just express how much I really don't want to go to class this afternoon? In my old age, I have become soooooooooooo lazy. In fact I remember a time when I would tell my abuela that she needed to get up and do something. She always tells me how happy she is just to stay at home. I never understood that philosophy until this summer. My lazy ass doesn't want to do a damn thing. In fact to get myself motivated to write a paper, I spend money. How tragic is that? I'll write my assignment for like an hour and then I'll shop. Sometimes if I'm really avoiding writing a paper, I'll clean. You know, my house. Woah! I hate cleaning. I used to like it before I was put on anti-depressants and before I started taking classes. Now, I'm just like it gets done when it gets done. It's not like I have time to entertain people. Damn! I'm out of coffee! Man I hate when that happens! But I have to limit myself to 8 cups. If I don't, I'll be swinging from the rafters and having a good ole time.

Speakin' of having a good ole time, people ask me why I don't drink. I don't need to, I tell them, I can make just as much of an ass of myself when I'm sober. It's sad really. I love to live out loud. In fact one of the reasons that I hate this class so much is because I don't feel like I can be myself. I feel like I have to sit there and just be reserved! Ugh! That really kills me. I'm not a reserved person at all. I love to laugh and make smartass remarks. In fact I have been told on a couple of occaisions that I have an infectious laugh. When I laugh, everyone laughs. And I don't have a machine gun laugh, or one of those snorting laughs either. I just have a loud, love to live life laugh. Do what I do... next time when you laugh, don't just tee hee tee hee, reach down inside and just let in come out. You may need to use other parts of your body like your diaphram (sp? Spanish is easier to spell in). I think once you start, you won't be able to stop!

~D

Ah, waking up!

There is nothing like being able to wake up gently with a fresh cup of caffeine in your hands! Damn, I love coffee! I could drink coffee at every meal if needed to. I think some would think I drink way too much coffee, I mean hey, I make 8 cps. in the morning and down it. I just think coffee is like mana from heaven! If my doctor would ever tell me I would have to stop my caffeine consumption or limit it, I think I would cry for a very very long time. Seriously, I think I'm probably addicted to coffee the way some people are addicted to cigarrettes. For example, most teachers who are smokers, go out for a smoke break. Oh no, not me, I go out for a starbucks break! And sometimes with a double shot of espresso I might add. Well someday I'll cut back on my coffee consumption, like maybe when I'm dead. Who knows?

Is it possible to over analyze a paper? I feel like I have read over my paper about 5 times and it still isn't good enough. I even emailed my prof. about my paper and all I got was a vague answer. I need more feedback than just vague answers. I'm so frustrated right now. My brain really hurts and I just don't feel like writing anymore papers. Crazy. I'm so ready for school to be over. I swear I think I must be a glutton for punishment. I should take Journey's advice when they sing..."Be good to yourself when nobody else will." I'm going to mellow out now and be good to myself!!

Brains Brains Brains!!

Okay, so I went to the last stoooopid lunch forum and discussed all the highly intriguingly exciting crap that we learned! So what did I choose? Brain research. The MRI one of my group members gave me, showed what male brains vs. female brains look like when they are reading. Is it my fault that female brains have more activity than male brains? No. So I pointed this fact out to my fellow colleagues, a couple of them were males. I know some of the guys may say, well the reason there is so much activity in a female brain is because females need to keep up to males when they read. I disagree, I believe males just don't have a lot going on upstairs at times( husband and some classmates, excluded). If anything, I think the female brain is way more active than a man's brain. C'mon, who usually asks, "Honey what are you thinking about?" And who usually answers, "Uhhhhhhh. Nothin'"

-D

Last Day of the Stupid Lunch Forum!!!

I'm so happy that my tech class is over. I'm a bit sad that it's over because I really enjoyed it and got a lot from it! The only thing I hated was the damned lunch forums! They were really hellacious! I think I would have enjoyed getting a crown put on my tooth than sit through them. They were so horrible listening to guest speakers drone on about what concepts they thought were important. Ug! So today is the last day of the forum. Thank God it's going to be the last day today.

I also found out I get to go up to the country this weekend to hang out with Joe, Gill, Lucinda, and Dameon. I don't know Dameon, but I'm sure he's pretty cool if Joe and Gill want to hang out with him, then he must be cool. I also get to see the hounds!!!! Hounds! I love to see them. Foxhounds, Coonhounds, BlueTick hounds, you can't beat it!!

Is it almost over?

What the hell was I thinking when I signed up for 3 grad classes?! I have to write a paper on instructional design? I also have to use various educational theories- behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. How much longer? Oh, I so want to just be able to chill and relax. Right now I'm watching Office Space, an awesome movie. I would love to be able to do what they did to the printer with a Mac 5500. Until recently, my schools had and used Macs that old!! Time for bed!
~D